Five Faculty Members Honored for 25 Years of Service
The five faculty members who will be honored for 25 years of teaching at the annual Alumni Banquet on June 6 represent the diversity of learning opportunities at Harvard Extension School, including lectures, case studies, hands-on work, and problem sets. Though their methods and interests vary, they all share a longstanding commitment to teaching at the Extension School.
Left to right: Donald Ostrowski, Dan T. Dunn, Jonathan Welch, Thomas C. Hayes, and Henry H. Leitner
Photos by Jeffry Pike
Dr. Donald Ostrowski, lecturer in Extension and faculty associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, is a research advisor for the Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) Program. Author of Muscovy and the Mongols: Cross-Cultural Influence on the Steppe Frontier and co-editor of The Povest’vremennykh let: An Interlinear Collation and Paradosis, Ostrowski started out teaching courses on the history of Eastern Europe. Most Extension School students know him through his courses on Western civilization, world history, and twentieth-century history. An accomplished lecturer, he has also integrated film and video into his lectures.
Colleagues at Northeastern University, Drs. Dan Dunn, Jr., and Jonathan Welch were among the first instructors in the Certificate of Special Studies Program in Administration and Management (now the Certificate of Management). They brought the case study method of teaching to the Extension School curriculum to supplement readings. Dunn, winner of the Joanne Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award, has been one of the mainstays in teaching marketing and has published his research on high-tech marketing. Welch, Harding Professor of Finance at Northeastern’s College of Business Administration, has extensive experience locally and internationally as an instructor, consultant, administrator, and researcher. He has taught managerial finance to thousands of Extension students.
Thomas (Tom) Hayes, lecturer on physics at the Extension School and instructional laboratory associate in physics at Harvard University, has taught laboratory electronics since 1981. Whether it was offered under the heading of Applied Sciences or Physics, Hayes’ “lab-intensive” courses on analog and digital circuitry have been a unique part of the Extension curriculum. Co-author of The Student Manual for The Art of Electronics, Hayes encourages his students to “enjoy the many lab hours that lie ahead” because he always does.
Dr. Henry Leitner, senior lecturer on computer science, is assistant dean for information technology and director of the Certificate in Applied Sciences and the Master of Liberal Arts in Information Technology programs. Leitner’s current list of academic titles is indicative of his multitasking ability, something that was evident from his first years at the Extension School. He taught a two-semester sequence of computer science courses, Introduction to Automatic Computing and Introduction to Computer Organization, when he was an assistant professor of computer science at Boston College. Within two years, in addition to his responsibilities as assistant director of science instruction at Harvard Extension School, Leitner taught two courses in the fall—Assembly Language and Computer Organization and Introduction to Computing—followed by a course on artificial intelligence the following spring. Although his Extension teaching load is back to only one course per semester (Introduction to Computer Science Using Java parts I and II), he also teaches at Harvard College and Harvard Summer School. To supplement his multimedia lectures, Leitner relies heavily on problem sets to develop his students’ skills.